peter gos

Hi,

I've been experimenting with compost for almost a year now, but still can't get it done in less than 5-6 weeks (using the 18 day Berkeley method)

My last one had a real odd behaviour.

I made it and watered really well, then it got hot to an average of 60 degrees celsius, flipped it properly and now in my 28th day it's even hotter and it got smaller.
Normally, I know that if it gets too hot and it shrinks down it's too much N. BUUUT, it didn't got that hot in the first few days (which it should), it only got a bit hotter now to the end so actually it never cooled down. And it never smelled, which should be the case if you put too much N
It's in the shade under a roof and covered so the sun only touches it from 5pm to 7pm

I noticed that the straw that I used is much smaller now, so I'm thinking that could be the cause.

Any thoughts? I'd really like it to be done in less than a month on my next try

Thanks

Hi,

I'm trying to find inocculant bacteria for winter vetch (Vicia villosa) and white clover (the low growing one), but so far, 2 days of worthless searches.


Anyone know where I could find them in Europe?

Thanks

As the title says, I'm looking for a permaculture designer/consultant in east-europe (or anywhere close to that). I need help designing, buying supplies and implementing a veggie and forest garden, as well as integrating a few animals.

Obviously I am paying for your services.

Please contact me on self_sustain@yahoo.com for details

I know Sepp talks about hugelkultur extending his growing season, but, for us leaving in temperate climates (90-100 degrees here for ~3 months of the year), won't that pile overheat and possibily damage the plants?

I'm trying to find a way to have a composting/heating process in the winter but not in the summer

Thanks for your help

Hello all,

I come from a family of small farmers (regular garden + chicken + occasional pork/cow) but I've never been into farming / permaculture / working the land and whatnot.

I've only recently become interested in these things and realised the impact we can have on the land, air, ecosystem or the world in general and how our decisions in terms of design/plant and animal choices and various systems that we use when working the land.

Although my familiy rarely used pesticides or herbicides, the whole garden is just a plain mess. Weeds growing everywhere, clayish soil 90% of the place plus the annual tilling, half the plants diseased/dead, chicken not taken care of and on and on and on..

So I've started researching for some time and somehow got the idea that it might be possible to have a whole system where you don't need to buy anything, and continuously produce food (as in meat and plant matter).
Now I'm not really sure how to do it but my vision is of a closed system where everyting is cycled.

Here is a basic setup that I'm thinking of: It can be expanded alot more, I know, but I'm thinking better to start small.

plant matter grown in soil --> fresh food scraps + old food scraps = compost (heat, co2 + soil improvement) --> red wrigglers --> feed for chicken
--> feed for chicken


- The soil can be ammended and improved naturally by using compost. The composting matterials would be the manures that you get, the plant leftovers (as greens), and the old plant leftovers (as browns)

- Chicken can eat the plant matter that you grow in soil. Composting with red wrigglers can give you a chicken feed. Mealworms (which can be grown just with leaves and water as far as I'm experimenting) can supplement that.

- Plant matter can be grown in a greenhouse that uses passive solar gain and/or compost inside it to heat it up. Keeping some of the animals in there (such as the chicken) can give you (together with the compost) CO2 for the plants, which will be turned into oxygen and so on.

Now this all sounds lovely, but can it be done?
Are the quantities produced by all these system enough, and if so, how do you get it right?

What I mean is (let's say the soil is better than you can dream of):

-how can you approximate how much land you need to produce enough plant matter for your : 1) chicks 2)compost ?
-can you compost just with food scraps (stems, leaves, peelings) as your greens, and OLD food scraps (the same things, just left to dry out in the sun) ?
-will that compost be enough to improve the soil fertility ?
-can you do that in the winter in a greenhouse and how much space would it take (passive solar gain building + chicken + compost)

-does this sound doable so you can get a surplus?
-even if you do get it right, there's the people living there that need to be fed aswell so you have to extend the land use again